Foodservice Equipment & Supplies magazines is an industry resource connecting foodservice operators, equipment and supplies manufacturers and dealers, and facility design consultants.
Issue link: http://fesmag.epubxp.com/i/732054
green idea Energy Reduction Kitchen Plan Saves DoubleTree Money By Amelia Levin, Contributing Editor T he DoubleTree Hotel in Pleasanton, Calif., is the latest participant in the Comprehensive Commer- cial Kitchen Equipment Retrofit (aka, "the cookline project"), a grant project awarded by the California Energy Commission to the PG&E; Food Service Technology Center (FSTC) in San Ramon, Calif. As part of the project, the FSTC teamed up with the Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E;) to study various foodservice operations in a demonstration of high-efficiency commercial cooking equipment and kitchen system optimization in commercial foodservice. Part of the cookline project involves establishing a baseline with older, less efficient equipment existing in the kitchen and then replacing those pieces with Energy Star models to determine resulting energy savings (and, if ap- plicable, water savings). Previous participants in the study have included Werewolf Bar & Grill in San Diego and Gate Gourmet, the large-scale caterer for major commercial air- lines. In both cases, the operators were able to note marked energy and even water savings as a result of the equipment line replacements, resulting in thousands of dollars saved. At the DoubleTree Hotel, PG&E; virtually replaced the kitchen's full line, including a griddle, fryer, broiler, double- stack convection oven and three steamers. Everything was a one-for-one replacement, except for the three outdated steamers, which were replaced by one efficient steamer and one combi oven. Preliminary measurements show the hotel is reducing energy use by up to 30 percent for each of the replacement pieces, which by the end of the year should account for hefty savings — hundreds, even thousands, of dollars. The hotel is also saving a tremendous amount of water, thanks to changes with the steamers. This is particularly important in Califor- nia, where water and sewer prices continue to skyrocket. The Broiler For the broiler, the DoubleTree Hotel downsized from a 4-by-3-foot model to a 3-by-3-foot infrared Energy Star-rated model, resulting in a savings of about 30 percent to 40 percent. "Initially, [DoubleTree staff] were having trouble with the new broiler because they were operating it at the same high level as the old one, and this caused the broiler to scorch the food and create a lot of smoke," says Denis Livchak, energy test- ing lab manager at the PG&E; Food Service Technology Center. "Once they adjusted the levels on the broiler, they were able to cook the food effectively using much less power and energy." The Fryer Previously, the equipment in DoubleTree Pleasanton's main kitchen included an old double-vat fryer that used 3.7 therms per day with a pilot light for each fryer left on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The new, energy-efficient replacement fryer with a power burner and five-pass heat exchanger also features electronic ignition to prevent additional energy usage. In this case, the heat-exchanger system on the fryer heats the oil more directly around the sides, rather than from the bottom of the fry pot, as the older model did. These features resulted in a 30 percent savings, with energy usage reduced by 2.6 therms per day, ac- cording to preliminary measurements provided by Livchak. In addition to saving energy, the new fryers also help maintain oil quality, which should reduce how frequently the ©2016 InSinkErator InSinkErator is a business unit of Emerson Electric Co. In addition to saving your operation time and money, InSinkErator foodservice equipment solutions are designed to save you labor. Our disposers, collector and waste reduction systems increase staff eff iciencies, decrease bulk kitchen waste volume for easy bagging and disposal, reduce trips to the dumpster, and save staff time on costly waste separation. www.insinkerator.com/foodservice • 800-845-8345 Manage food waste. Manage labor costs.